Looking for that perfect gift for the fashion tech trendsetter, DIY electronics maker, or excited learner? Here are our recommendations for fantastic light up clothing and accessories, and the materials and instructions to learn to make your own.
WEAR
Lumen Couture
The designer and maker of this year’s hottest fashion tech accessory, the LED matrix face mask. This rechargeable mask features app controlled animations and scrolling words. Designer Chelsea Klukas also has a ready-to-wear line of fashion tech available for purchase or rental.
Art by Physicist
Dr. Kitty Yeung uses art inspired by science and nature to make beautiful fashion with on-demand production that reduces waste in the garment industry. We particularly like her Saturn dress that has a clever design with optional DIY electronics and is fun to wear.
Bright Wearables
Bright Wearables fashionable bags and backpacks have a circle of light that you can program and control with a microbit. Easy tutorials teach you the programming basics and coding.
Tiny Right Brain
Interesting 3D printed jewelry by a local SF Bay maker.
CAT Clutch
Beautiful ready-to-wear rechargeable LED matrix purses that can display customized app-controlled pixel art.
LEARN
Play Pattern
Virtual afterschool workshops produced and curated by educator, Dr. Ronah Harris. Topics include animation, crafts, creative code, storytelling lab, digital music, and Roblox.
Lectrify.it
Lego crafts using the Lectrify components are a great way to learn about circuits and logic. The Bit:Buddy and Bit:Booster provide easy connections for the micro:bit to learn about coding projects and physical computing.
Brown Dog Gadget
Fantastic introductory projects for sewn circuits and paper circuits with easy to print and use tutorials. The Crazy Circuit line uses Lego compatible electronic components and the Robotics Board or Invention Board (Arduino compatible microcontroller boards) to build more complex projects that can use capacitive touch inputs. The crazy circuits components can also be sewn into e-textile projects.
MakeFashion.edu
Fashion tech education kits for individual students, teachers and classrooms.
Amped Atelier
https://amped-atelier.square.site/
Signed paperback copies of Make It, Wear It: Wearable Electronics for Makers, Crafters, and Cosplayers. Holiday ornaments, sewing tools and lacing hole guides, and DIY electronics kits. Check out all of the book projects and free files at www.makeitwearitbook.com.
MAKE
Sew.iy
Solderable conductive thread helps to overcome the loose connections that are one of the biggest reliability problems with sewn circuits.
Digitspace
Low cost supplier for electronic components, microcontroller boards and WS2812 LEDs. We’ve used their Arduino compatible boards and addressable LED rings.
Erin StBlaine
Light Artist Erin StBlaine crafts fantastic light up costume and décor projects. PDF patterns and materials for her popular papercraft crystals are available
Technochic
Fun paper circuit project kits for pop-up cards, flowers, bowties and unicorn headbands.
Teknikio
Sewable LEDs in multiple shapes, project kits and curricula, and a new wireless circuit board that can use circuit python or the Arduino IDE.
Evil Mad Scientist
Unique kits for electronics, robots, drawing machines and the Digi-Comp II – a rolling ball binary mechanical computer.
Pimoroni
UK based shop with a lot of micro:bit and Raspberry Pi boards. We’re using the Enviro + Air Quality to measure particulates with a Raspberry Pi.
DFRobot
Makers of the DFRobot Beetle BLE, a small Arduino compatible board with Bluetooth good for soldered wearable tech projects.
